Funny Pantomime Animals

[LXbydesign]

Hi.

 

Pantos , - a scene in a wood. Where on-stage you might have fake tree trunks or even real branches , whats the best way I could get little squirrels and other creatures to "scurry" up and down the trees.

 

Think of like a simple furry puppet thats , I guess, attached to some sort of wire. and gets pulled one way or the other to make the animal "run around"

 

Does anybody know what I mean?!!! And its a fixed grid venue.

 

Whats the best way to make this happen? I can go down the hand puppet route, but the director really wants to see animals running up and down the (what will be real) trees!

 

Cheers peeps

[Glyn Edwards]

Can't help with the up and down trees idea except to suggest what you've already said. For those critters that run between trees, I've strapped them to the top of radio control cars before now.

 

HTH

 

Glyn

[zonino]

best way is a wire that is tight as a guide fixed in place, and then something to pull said item along.

[AndyJones]

Go crazy and project the whole lot? trees squirrels and all? saves on lots of faffy rigging BUT opens a whole new can of worms...

[LXbydesign]

Go crazy and project the whole lot? trees squirrels and all? saves on lots of faffy rigging BUT opens a whole new can of worms...

 

 

Andy thats a really good idea. One thing I was actually thinking of along that line was to intergrate projection alongside the "real" set and have sections of very lightly -so its not an ovious (spelling) projection surface and just project the creatures running around. Hide maybe 3 small projectors in around the set etc and away you go. Saying that, I still have the problem of the up and down trees scenerio - and total projection of the woodland aka like Martin Guerre is not on the design brief. It has to be "real"

 

What about something like the old "Bat a Rat" game you used to get at fetes. but do it top to bottom , disguse the pipe amongst the tree and have bigger gaps in it so the auidence will see the animal. just then the logistics of the rigging and operating.

 

As an LD more than a set designer I might go for some gobos of woodland animals in moving lights!!A bit like a bigger tinkerbell!! hehe

 

What a headache!!!

[Suzette]

Would the usual panto "wiggly worm up and across portal" trick work?

 

Continuous loop of fishing line through small screw eyes up, down, across portal/tree with lump of brown fur (with ears & eyes!) attached to one part of the line (usually where the knot joins the line into one loop).

 

"Animal" i.e. lump of brown fur needs to be small (or usually just thin & long - as it is often supposed to be a worm) to pass through the screw eyes.

 

One section of the fishing line is out of sight of audience - where the crew can reach it - then just pull the line through the screw eyes --- keep the loop of line moving and the "worm" runs up the portal/tree.... wherever you have run the fishing line.